Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

[March 03, 2017]  March 2 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of National Hockey League games on Thursday:

Capitals 1, Devils 0

Jakub Vrana broke a scoreless tie at 7:21 of the third period and the Washington Capitals defeated the New Jersey Devils 1-0 for their franchise-record 14th straight home win.

With Washington on a power play, Vrana grabbed a deflected puck in the slot and fired past Cory Schneider for his second goal of the season.

Braden Holtby stopped 15 shots for his eighth shutout of the season. Schneider made 23 saves for New Jersey.

Blue Jackets 1, Wild 0

Brandon Saad scored the lone goal to give Columbus a win over Minnesota at Nationwide Arena.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 38 shots he faced for his fourth shutout of the season and 33rd win of the season, setting a career high for wins for the Blue Jackets goaltender.

Devan Dubnyk finished with 39 saves for the Wild.

Rangers 2, Bruins 1

Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 32 shots and in carrying New York over Boston.

Third-period goals by Pavel Buchnevich and Oscar Lindberg were all the Rangers needed.

Brad Marchand scored the Bruins goal.

Canadiens 2, Predators 1

Paul Byron scored with 8.3 seconds left to lift Montreal over Nashville at the Bell Centre.

Brendan Gallagher also scored for the Canadiens, who won in regulation for the first time since Jan. 31.

Ryan Ellis replied for the Predators.

Kings 3, Maple Leafs 2 (SO)

Jonathan Quick stopped all three attempts in the shootout and Anze Kopitar scored in the third round to lift Los Angeles.

The Kings erased a 2-0 deficit with goals in the first two minutes of the third period from Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli before handing Toronto its fourth consecutive loss.

Tyler Bozak and Zaitsev scored for the Maple Leafs, and Brian Boyle registered his first point since joining Toronto in a trade Monday with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Sharks 3, Canucks 1

Marcus Sorensen scored his first career goal and backup goaltender Aaron Dell made 17 saves to lead San Jose.

The Sharks opened a seven-point lead in the Pacific Division over Edmonton by winning its third straight game and fourth in the last five contests.

Logan Couture and Mikkel Boedker also scored for the Sharks. San Jose's Joe Thornton was held off the scoresheet and remains stuck on 999 career assists.

Flyers 2, Panthers 1 (SO)

Newcomer Valtteri Filppula sent the game into overtime, and Jordan Weal and Jakub Voracek scored in the shootout, leading Philadelphia over at the Wells Fargo Center.

Steve Mason stopped 39 shots and denied two of three shootout attempts to lift the Flyers to their second straight win.

James Reimer took the loss for the Panthers despite making 35 saves in relief of Roberto Luongo. Aaron Ekblad netted the Panthers' lone goal. Luongo stopped all 13 shots he faced in the opening period but did not return for the second period because of an apparent lower-body injury.

Senators 2, Avalanche 1

Newly acquired winger Alex Burrows scored twice in his debut as Ottawa defeated Colorado at Canadian Tire Centre.

Rene Bourque scored the only goal for the Avalanche.

Craig Anderson stopped 22 shots for the Senators while Calvin Pickard stopped 40 shots for the Avalanche.

Islanders 5, Stars 4

Ryan Strome had a goal and two assists for New York, which scored four unanswered goals in a win against Dallas at American Airlines Center.

Andrew Ladd, Nick Leddy, who also had an assist, Dennis Seidenberg and Nikolay Kulemin also scored for the Islanders, who are 3-1-0 through four games of their nine-game road trip. Thomas Greiss made 22 saves for New York.

Jamie Benn had two goals. Jason Spezza, who also had an assist, and Radek Faksa also scored for the Stars, who got two assists from Tyler Seguin. Antti Niemi made 28 saves in a losing effort.

Sabres 6, Coyotes 3

Evander Kane scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:36 remaining to lead Buffalo over Arizona.

Marcus Foligno (two goals), Ryan O'Reilly, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Sabres while Robin Lehner made 19 saves.

Teemu Pulkkinen, Tobias Rieder and Alex Goligoski scored for the Coyotes and Mike Smith stopped 35 shots.

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